Brandon Miller back in Charlotte Hornets’ starting lineup. Which players remain injured?
The Charlotte Hornets are close to playing at full strength.
Brandon Miller, LaMelo Ball, Mark Williams and Miles Bridges all suited up in the starting lineup for just the second time in a year. Those four had previously taken the floor together just once this season since playing alongside each other on Nov. 26, 2023, as injuries and illnesses have continued plaguing the Hornets.
They all scored in double figures Thursday, when a rejuvenated Charlotte squad battled back and came up short in a 113-110 loss to the Washington Wizards. Ball led the way with a 31-point night, and Williams jammed home a go-ahead dunk during the final 10 seconds.
It marked just the sixth time that Ball, Miller, Bridges and Williams were all available in the same game. It’s the first time this group lost together — the Hornets were previously 2-0 when all four of them played in and finished a game.
Here’s a look at each player on the Hornets (7-23), who return to Spectrum Center at 6 p.m. Saturday to host the Oklahoma City Thunder:
Brandon Miller
After missing the past three games, the Hornets’ second-year standout returned to the floor.
Miller, who sprained his left ankle Dec. 16 at Philadelphia, poured in 18 points in Thursday’s loss. He’d been listed as questionable after returning to practice Sunday.
Miller has missed only eight of Charlotte’s 30 games this season, mostly with a strained left glute (hip injury). He’s emerged as a consistent player for the team often riddled with injuries.
LaMelo Ball
Charlotte’s star point guard is averaging 30 points per game this season. Ball has missed nine games with a sore left calf.
Mark Williams
The versatile big man made his fifth start of the season Thursday.
Williams, the Duke product who missed most of last season with a back injury, had been out for nearly 12 straight months when he made his season debut Dec. 3.
A strained tendon in his left foot, sustained during a pre-training camp workout in the offseason, hindered his return to the court this season.
Williams played a season-best 27 minutes Thursday, also tying his season high with 16 points.
Miles Bridges
Bridges played in his sixth straight game since returning from a knee injury and posted a double-double. His 14 rebounds led the Hornets on Thursday, while he also scored 22 points.
Bridges had missed two weeks last month because of a bone bruise in his right knee.
Injury updates of active Hornets players:
Seth Curry
Curry, who’s been out minimal time with illness and right knee soreness, didn’t play Thursday. It’s only the third game he’s missed this season; Curry also didn’t play in the Hornets’ loss to Philadelphia on Dec. 16.
DaQuan Jeffries
It was only the sixth game of the year for Jeffries, who suffered a hand injury — a fractured right fifth metacarpal — during the preseason.
The 27-year-old shooting guard played seven minutes Thursday and is averaging roughly nine points per game.
Tidjane Salaün
This year’s lottery pick has played most of his rookie season thus far.
Salaün, the 19-year-old Frenchman whom the Hornets drafted with the sixth overall selection, only missed two games after spraining his left ankle Dec. 5 in Charlotte’s loss to New York.
Josh Green
The Australian shooting guard has played in nearly every game since missing the season opener Oct. 23 because of left Achilles soreness.
Vasilije Micić
The 30-year-old Serbian has missed 11 games this season with both illness and right knee soreness.
Nick Richards
The Hornets’ backup center sustained a rib injury — specifically, a cartilage fracture in the first rib underneath his right clavicle — that kept him out for most of November.
These players are currently out for the Hornets:
Tre Mann
Charlotte’s 23-year-old former first-round pick remains sidelined.
Disc irritation has been keeping the point guard out since Nov. 21, when the Hornets beat Detroit in overtime. Mann has now missed 17 games.
The University of Florida product, whom the Thunder selected with the No. 18 overall pick in 2021, currently averages 14.1 points per game this season through 13 appearances.
The Hornets announced Dec. 16 that Mann will be re-evaluated in two weeks — making Jan. 3 at the Pistons his earliest possible return — as he’d begun light court work and returned to the weight room.
Grant Williams
The Hornets’ born-and-bred Charlottean is out for the season.
Williams, the state champion at Providence Day who now plays for his hometown NBA team, tore his right ACL toward the end of the Hornets’ loss at Milwaukee on Nov. 23.
This story was originally published December 27, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
